Pakistan's Asif Ali hurls bat at AFG bowler Fareed Ahmad in ugly mid-pitch brawl: Watch

The Super 4 encounter between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday at the Asia Cup 2022 in UAE ended with a thrilling one-wicket win for the Babar Azam-led side. After achieving the target of 130 runs in 19.2 overs, Pakistan booked a spot in the Asia Cup 2022 final to lock horns with Sri Lanka. While Pakistan’s last-over heroics became a talking point in the cricket world, cricketer Asif Ali also found himself in the headlines for his ugly on-field brawl with Afghan bowler Fareed Ahmad.

Ali nearly hits Afghan bowler with bat: Watch video

With Pakistan requiring 21 runs to win from 12 balls, Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi decided to hand over the ball to pacer Fareed Ahmad, who had notched up figures of 1/21 in 3 overs until then. Meanwhile, Asif kicked off the penultimate over with a single on the first ball, before Haris Rauf was bowled over by Ahmad. The bowler delivered a wide delivery in the third ball, as no. 10 batter Naseem Shah took a single in the next delivery.

With the equation now down to 18 runs to win in 9 balls for Pakistan, Asif hit a massive six towards over the mid-wicket in the fourth delivery. However, in the penultimate ball of the over, Ahmad bowled an off-pace short delivery at 114kmph, while the Pakistan batter decided to go for a pull shot. Asif ended up getting the top edge and Karim Janat successfully completed the catch, reducing Pakistan to 118/9 in 19.5 overs.

As Ali started walking back to the pavilion, Fareed found himself right in his path, celebrating the dismissal with a fist pump and a roar. This didn’t go down well with the dismissed batter as he decided to stand and glare at the bowler. While the bowler stared back, Asif lost his cool, shoved him off, and was seen raising his bat at Fareed, as if looking to strike him with it. 

However, the duo was separated after the umpires and Afghan team intervened. Despite Afghanistan’s loss, the Fareed vs Asif Ali clash became one of the biggest highlights of the match. This will certainly remain in the memories of the fans for a long period of time.

Going ahead in the match, Naseem Shah struck consecutive sixes in the first two balls of the final over and took Pakistan through to the Asia Cup 2022 final. While all four teams of the Super 4 stage had chances of reaching to the Asia Cup 2022 final before the match, Pakistan's win knocked out Afghanistan and India out of the race. Pakistan will now face Sri Lanka in the summit clash on September 11.